Knit boot



mess to moisture.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RYAN I'IEATON, OF SANDY HOOK, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

KNIT BOOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,331,'dated May 23, 1899.

Application filed March 1'7, 1898. Serial No. 674,236- (No Specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RYAN IIEATON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Sandy Hook, county of Fairfield, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knit Boots, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of knit boots or shoes; and it consists of certain novel methods employed in the manufacture thereof and in the improved product,substantially as herein described.

I first knit in any suitable shape, but preferably in the form of an elongated bag, fabric which when fulled forms the body of the boot. This fabric may be made by weaving or braiding or in any other suitable manner, although at present I- prefer to knit it. Instead of being made in the form of an elongated bag it might be made in aform more nearly resembling the finished boot, or it maybe made in any other desired form. tion of this step in the process of manufacture is not necessary, as it is already well known in the art. In some instances to give additional rigidity or strength to the finished product the form from which the boot is to be constructed is made in whole or in part of a double fabric, or two fabrics after knitting may be associated or assembled one within the other.

It is well known that boots made solely of knitted fabric fulled to size and shape are lackingin stiffness, warmth, and impervious- Heretofore these desirable qualities have been imparted to the boot either by attaching to one or both surfaces a hat by jigging or by incorporating therewith flock.

An objection to boots the interstices of which are filled by flock is the tendency of the short fibers to become disengaged from and to work out of the fabric in use, while in those cases where a bat has been attached by jigging the fibers, while longer than the fibers of flock, do not, practically speaking, penetrate, nor are they introduced into the interstices of thefabric and are therefore liable to be separated therefrom in use and leave it A further descrip-' comparatively open for the absorption of moisture. I overcome both these difficulties and produce a stronger, more durable, and better product in the following manner: I lay upon the fabric a suitable bat as distinguished from flock, and I then-proceed to incorporate the fibers of this bat into the fabric by mechanical means-as, for example,a punchingmachine or needle-loom provided with gangs of roughened needles which engage with the fibers on the upper side, carrying them into and through the fabric. The bat, if desired, may be punched through the fabric from both sides. The fabric is then subjected to the fulling process and is subsequently lasted in the well-known way.

The efiect of the fulling process is both to consolidate the fabric onto the loose pene trating fibers and also, as it were, to knot these penetrating fibers on both sides of the fabric, by which means they are securely held in place and w'ill not be dislodged in use,.

When a double fabric is employed, I prefer to punch the bat through from both sides of the compound fabric, and in this case the penetrating fibers, being knotted by the fulling process, as above described, in effect sew the two fabrics together in such a manner that they are not liable to be separated in use.

It will of course be understood that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my in vention and without exceeding the scope of the claims. What I claim is- 1. The process of making fabric boots, consisting in forming a woolen fabric of larger woolen fabric, with which are incorporated, duced into and pass through the fabric, and before shrinking or falling, unspun -w0o1 are held in place by shrinking 0r fulling. [O fibers introduced into and passing through Signed by me, at Medford, Massachusetts, the same from side to side, which are held in this 18th day of February, 1898.

place by shrinking or fulling. RYAN HEATON. [L.

4. A fabric boot composed of a suitable YVitnesses: woolen fabric, with which is combined a wool CHARLES WV. S. MOODY, bat, the fibers of which are in part intro- HARRY P. SKIPPER. 

